314 THE GREAT BARRIER REEF. 



fully practised. It owes its origin, in most instances, to the initiative of Malay or Chinese 

 fishermen. A very considerable number of varieties of fish are taken by this method, with not 

 unfrequently, in the Townsville fishing-weirs, a stray crocodile. It is an interesting circumstance 

 that the remains of very extensive stone-built fishing-weirs exist at Darnley Island, in Torres 

 Strait, of the origin of which neither the present inhabitants nor those residing there at the date 

 of Jukes' visit (1843) have possessed any knowledge. 



Trawling is not a method of taking fish that is likely to prove remunerative in Queensland 

 waters, and more especially among the intricate channels of the Barrier. In addition to the sea- 

 bottom being too rough and uneven for the effective working of the trawl, there is an 

 insufficiency of that particular class of bottom fish, such as soles, turbot, brill, plaice, skate, 

 and gurnards, of marketable size, which constitute the main harvest of the trawl-fisher in 

 European waters. Experiments with the trawl were conducted by the author in both Moreton 

 and Cleveland Bays. The results obtained, however, while interesting from a scientific point of 

 view, yielded little or no materials of commercial value. By such time as the Queensland fisheries 

 are exploited to the extent of the development of an important export trade, it may be anticipated 

 that the use of the trammel, drift, and other meshing-nets will be found most efficient for the 

 capture of many important varieties. 



As a means of increasing the natural fish supply, and more especially with the view of pro- 

 viding high-class and attractive sport, the introduction and acclimatisation in Australian waters of 

 British and other Salmonidae has, in certain of the more southern colonies, been attended with a 

 considerable amount of success. The question was submitted to the author, while Commis- 

 sioner of Fisheries to Queensland, whether it would not be practical to similarly introduce repre- 

 sentatives of the family into that colony. The matter was raised in association with a 

 liberal offer made to the Government of a supply of ova of the Californian salmon, Saliiio quinat, 

 but which the author did not feel justified in recommending them to accept. Trout, Salnio fario, 

 has been successfully acclimatised in the colonies of Tasmania, Victoria, and New South Wales ; 

 and S. levetiejisis in the Neilgherry Hills in India. The author is of the opinion that it might be 

 possible also to introduce the former species into the upper waters of the Barron River and other 

 streams at a high and relatively cool elevation, in Queensland. Money expended on the intro- 

 duction of salmon of either the Atlantic, Saliiio salar, or the Pacific, 5. quinat, species would 

 undoubtedly be simply wasted, as has unfortunately been the case with experiments conducted 

 on a large scale, and extending over many years in the colony which offers, apparently, the 

 most favourable conditions for salmon acclimatisation. 



Since the year 1864, when the first consignment of British salmon ova arrived in Tas- 

 mania by the ship Norfolk, the most earnest and praiseworthy efforts have been made by 

 enthusiastic anglers and others in that colony, constituting collectively a special salmon com- 

 mission, to establish salmon in its waters. Thousands of pounds of the colony's money, 



